MSC Splendida in one read
MSC Splendida was delivered on 4 July 2009 from Saint-Nazaire and christened by Sophia Loren in Barcelona eight days later, on 12 July — an order of events worth noticing, because most ships are named before they sail rather than after. She was ordered under a different name entirely, MSC Serenata, and renamed in May 2007. Her interiors are by De Jorio Design.
On paper she is MSC Fantasia's twin, and the paper is unusually clean: 137,936 gross tons agreed by MSC, Wikipedia and the vessel registry with no conflict at all, 333.30 metres, 3,274 guests at double occupancy, about 1,370 crew, and the same 42.1 gross tons per guest that makes this pair the roomiest hulls in MSC's older fleet. Eighty-two per cent of her cabins face outside and 1,256 have balconies.
And then her career goes somewhere no other ship in the class has been. Mediterranean seasons from 2009 to 2017, then Dubai, then Shanghai, then Santos, then the Red Sea, then Durban, then Santos and the Mediterranean again. She is the class's world-roamer, and the most interesting thing about her is that one of those deployments left a permanent mark on her deck plan.
Fit scores, not review scores — a lower value number means the base fare buys you less of the ship, not that she's a lesser ship.
Travellers who want the roomiest hull in MSC's older fleet on itineraries nobody else runs — and food-curious guests who will actually use the Jereme Leung room and the dim sum house her Shanghai years left behind.
You are sensitive to cigarette smoke, or you need a settled homeport. Her editor lists smoking prevalence as a con by name, and she has changed continents roughly every two years for a decade.
What Splendida was built to solve
She was built as the second half of an idea, and then MSC discovered she was useful for something else entirely. The Fantasia class was drawn to prove that a mainstream European ship could carry a gated suite enclave without turning into a two-class liner, and Splendida is that argument delivered a second time: 71 Yacht Club suites, a private restaurant in L'Olivo, The One Pool reserved to the enclave, and a 141-seat Top Sail Lounge as the hub.
What she solved after that was a fleet problem rather than a design one. MSC has grown faster than any of the big four cruise groups, and a company opening markets at that rate needs hulls it can move without breaking the rest of the deployment map. Splendida became that hull. Dubai in 2017-18. Shanghai from 2018 to 2020. Santos. The Red Sea. Durban in 2023-24. Then Santos and the Mediterranean again.
The Shanghai years are the ones that left evidence. Her November 2017 refit was the substantive one in her history and it was built for China: a Chinese restaurant designed by chef Jereme Leung, Baidu-powered AI translation aboard, and a China-tailored version of the MSC for Me app. MSC did not strip it out when she left. Sea Pavilion is still on her deck plan, and so is a Tea House and Dim Sum venue, on a ship now selling Mediterranean and South American itineraries. You will not find that on any other MSC hull, and it is the single most distinctive thing about eating aboard her.
And she is about to solve a market. For winter 2026-27 she takes MSC's first-ever season homeporting Rio de Janeiro, alongside Buenos Aires, on 8- and 9-night Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay itineraries, replacing MSC Lirica in that role. That is a bigger ship being put into a market a smaller one used to hold — which is what a company does when it thinks the market is growing, not when it thinks it is finished.
Her editor and member scores are 1.2 points apart, and that is the widest gap of any ship in this generation. Cruise Critic's editor gives her 4.5 — among the highest editor scores MSC has anywhere. Members give her 3.3 from about 391 reviews. A gap that wide is not noise: the professional review scores the hardware, and the members score the delivery. On a hull that genuinely is beautiful and genuinely does carry more space per guest than almost anything its age, that is the most useful thing to understand before booking. Buy her for the ship. Do not assume the ship guarantees the week.
Is Splendida your ship?
Four quick questions and we'll give you an honest read on whether she fits — not a sales pitch.
Best for: the report card
Fit grades with the reasoning attached — who she suits, not how good she is.
Believing MSC's own venue count. Her marketing advertises “13 restaurants and buffets,” and a strict count gives seven or eight. The larger number aggregates bars, cafes and counters into the same bucket as sit-down restaurants. This is not unique to Splendida or to MSC, but she is the ship where the gap is widest, and it matters if you are choosing between hulls on dining variety. Count the rooms you would actually book a table in: two main dining rooms, two buffets, Butcher's Cut, Sea Pavilion, the Tea House and Dim Sum venue, and L'Olivo behind the Yacht Club gate.
Where she sails
The most-travelled ship in her class. Verify your sailing rather than assuming a pattern.
Her deployment history is the story. Mediterranean from 2009 to 2017. Dubai in 2017-18. Shanghai from 2018 to 2020. Then Santos, then the Red Sea, then Durban in 2023-24, then Santos and the Mediterranean again. Four continents and two oceans in fifteen years, on a ship that was never built as swing tonnage and became it anyway.
Winter 2026-27 is the notable one: MSC's first-ever season homeporting Rio de Janeiro, together with Buenos Aires, on 8- and 9-night itineraries around Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. She takes that role over from MSC Lirica. Reading it plainly: MSC is putting a 137,936-tonne ship into a market a 65,000-tonne ship used to hold, which is a statement about where the company thinks South American demand is going.
She has never been homeported in the United States, and nothing suggests she will be. If you are shopping from North America she is a fly-cruise, and her fares are set for European, Brazilian and Gulf buyers rather than for Miami — which on an identical hull to a ship you can price elsewhere is a genuine arbitrage.
What is announced beyond that is nothing, and that is normal. Across all eight of MSC's older ships there has been no announced sale, transfer, retirement or charter. The affirmative signals point the other way: her May 2024 drydock fitted shore power, LED lighting and HVAC efficiency upgrades. That is capital spent on a ship's next decade rather than on her last few seasons.
Onboard: her features & standouts
A Chinese restaurant on a Mediterranean ship, a Yacht Club with its own pool, and a venue count that does not survive contact with a deck plan. Tap through.
Book Sea Pavilion on the first sea day, and go to the Tea House and Dim Sum venue at least once mid-afternoon. Both are artefacts of a deployment that ended, both are properly specified rather than tokenistic, and both are consistently among the quietest rooms aboard precisely because nobody expects to find them on a ship sailing out of Genoa or Santos. This is the only MSC hull where that sentence is true.
Deck plan logic: bottlenecks & where the dining clusters
Structurally identical to her twin, and the same logic applies. Eighteen decks in total, fourteen accessible to guests per MSC's own count, main dining rooms low, the two buffets high, the Yacht Club forward on decks 15 and 16 with a small group of outlying suite categories further down. There is no deck 17, because seventeen is unlucky in Italy — XVII is an anagram of VIXI, “I have lived,” which belongs on a tombstone rather than a lift button.
The pinch points are the ones this generation always has: the buffet and the pool deck. Two buffets is her structural defence and it works, provided you use both. The behavioural fix is the same one that works on every ship of this size — move your breakfast half an hour either side of the peak and the queue stops existing.
Her specialty dining sits apart from the included dining, and on this ship that is a feature. Butcher's Cut, Sea Pavilion and the Tea House and Dim Sum venue are the rooms worth walking to, and they are reliably calmer than the free venues at the same hour. On a hull whose most corroborated criticism is food repetition, having three genuinely distinct paid rooms rather than the two her twin carries is the single biggest practical difference between the pair.
One honest note about the air aboard. Cruise Critic's editor lists a con for this ship by name: “Cigarette smoking is more prevalent on MSC than other lines.” That is a real observation about a European passenger mix rather than a maintenance failure, and it is worth knowing which side of a smoking area your cabin balcony sits on. If you are sensitive to it, ask before you accept a cabin assignment.
Book amidships if anyone will be commuting between the pool decks and the low dining rooms repeatedly; avoid directly beneath the buffet decks and directly above the theatre.
Value strategy: what to pre-book, what to skip
Non-American pricing, the European fee structure, and a specialty slate that actually earns its money on this hull.
Worth locking in
- Sea Pavilion and Butcher's Cut, before you sail. On a ship where the corroborated criticism of the included dining is repetition, three distinct paid rooms is a genuine answer rather than an upsell — and a Jereme Leung room on a Mediterranean sailing is not something you can book anywhere else.
- The drinks package, pre-cruise. MSC states that all its pre-paid and onboard beverage packages include gratuities, which is not the case at Carnival, Norwegian or Royal Caribbean, where 18 to 20 per cent lands at checkout.
- The Yacht Club, priced honestly against a balcony. The interior suite runs roughly 36 to 37 per cent below the balcony suite on comparable MSC sailings, with the same butler, the same L'Olivo, the same One Pool and the same priority boarding.
Save your money
- Aurea bought for the drinks. Aurea's beverage package is discounted, not free — it buys free-time dining, adults-only thermal access and priority boarding.
- Counting on thirteen restaurants. That is a marketing aggregate; the honest number is seven or eight. Plan your week on the real one.
- A balcony directly adjacent to a smoking area. Her editor names smoking prevalence as a con for this ship specifically. Ask where the areas are before you accept an assignment.
Structuring a day
- Use both buffets. Bora Bora and Pago Pago are separate rooms and one of them is always the quieter one.
- Take the Tea House mid-afternoon. It is the emptiest good room on the ship and it exists by accident of history.
- Treat her itineraries as the product. Rio, Buenos Aires, Durban, the Red Sea — she goes places most mainstream ships do not, and the ports are the reason to pick her over her twin.
Start with the fee structure, because it is quietly the biggest difference between booking her and booking an American MSC ship. On European itineraries the service charge is €12 per person per night as standard and €16 in the Yacht Club, with a child rate. In North America the figure is $17 per person per night with no child rate from age two. A family of four on a nine-night South American or Mediterranean sailing therefore pays materially less in service charges than the same family would on the same company's Caribbean product, and it almost never appears in a fare comparison.
On the Yacht Club, she is one of the best-value entries in the fleet. Seventy-one suites, L'Olivo, a 141-seat Top Sail Lounge, The One Pool reserved to the enclave, a butler and concierge around the clock, priority embarkation and disembarkation. The interior suite is the play, as it is everywhere in this fleet — roughly a third below the balcony suite for identical service, on a ship whose itineraries are port-dense enough that you will barely be in the cabin. Not included at any tier: laundry, specialty dining credits, and the daily service charge. That is MSC's whole thesis stated as a booking code: people were priced out of the real estate, not the experience.
Hidden gems
Eight things worth knowing about the most-travelled ship in her class.
A Jereme Leung restaurant on a European ship
Sea Pavilion was installed in November 2017 for the Shanghai deployment and never removed. It is the only room of its kind on any MSC hull, and it is on a ship now selling Mediterranean and Brazilian itineraries.
The Tea House and Dim Sum venue
The second survivor of her China years, and the quietest good room aboard. Almost nobody books a Mediterranean cruise expecting dim sum, which is exactly why it is empty.
Her tonnage is the one figure nobody disputes
137,936 GT, agreed by MSC, Wikipedia and the vessel registry with no conflict — unusual in a fleet where her own twin has three published figures.
She was ordered as MSC Serenata
Renamed in May 2007, two years before delivery. Her interiors are by De Jorio Design, the same studio that later did interior work on MSC Preziosa.
She was named after she was delivered
Delivered 4 July 2009, christened by Sophia Loren in Barcelona on 12 July — eight days later. Most ships get the ceremony first.
Her editor and member scores are 1.2 points apart
Editor 4.5, members 3.3 from about 391 reviews. The widest such gap in this generation, and the most useful single fact about buying her: the hardware is not the variable.
Eighty-two per cent of her cabins face outside
And 1,256 have balconies. On a hull of this age that is a high proportion, and it is the reason she photographs so well from the quayside.
Her venue count is a marketing aggregate
MSC advertises thirteen restaurants and buffets. Seven or eight is the honest count. She still has the best specialty slate in her class on the smaller number.
The Yacht Club on MSC Splendida
Seventy-one suites forward on decks 15 and 16, with the private restaurant L'Olivo, a Top Sail Lounge seating 141 as the central hub, and The One Pool reserved to the enclave. A small group of outlying suite categories sits lower in the ship — same product, same gate, longer walk. This is the same architecture MSC set on her twin in 2008 and has carried onto every Yacht Club since: gated suites in several categories, a panoramic lounge, a dedicated restaurant, a private pool deck, a twenty-four-hour butler and a twenty-four-hour concierge, and priority on and off the ship.
What you should not expect is the vertical precinct the newest ships carry. MSC Seashore's Yacht Club runs to nearly 3,000 square metres across four decks; MSC Virtuosa and MSC Grandiosa carry Duplex Suites spanning two decks and 1,225 square metres of private outdoor space. Splendida's is a two-deck cluster with a discrete pool area. It is smaller and it is materially cheaper, and no source offers a like-for-like comparison of square footage or suite size between the retrofit Yacht Clubs now being fitted to the Musica class and this original Fantasia-class version — so we will not rank them for you.
What is included is the part that matters. Butler and concierge around the clock, the private restaurant, the Top Sail Lounge, The One Pool and its sun deck, priority embarkation and disembarkation. What is not included at any tier: laundry, specialty dining credits, and the daily service charge, which on her European itineraries runs €16 per person per night in the Yacht Club against €12 standard — both with a child rate, which the North American structure does not offer.
And the reason to take it seriously on this ship in particular. Splendida runs long, port-dense, unusual itineraries — 8- and 9-night South American sailings, Durban seasons, Red Sea repositionings. Priority embarkation and disembarkation compound across a voyage with many boarding events in a way they simply do not on a three-night Caribbean run, and a private restaurant with no fixed dining time removes the single largest friction on a ship whose included dining is criticised for repetition. The interior suite — roughly 36 to 37 per cent below the balcony suite for identical service — is the sharpest version of that trade.
Two ways to sail her
Her passenger mix is the most genuinely international in MSC's older fleet, and that changes both of these answers.
What families actually find
What works. Space — 42.1 gross tons per guest, joint-best of the eight older ships — and two buffets rather than one, which on a 3,274-guest hull is the specification that decides whether you get a table. The mini-bowling is a good rainy hour, and the European service charge does discount children where the North American structure charges the full adult rate from age two.
What surprises parents. The attraction set is thin: mini-bowling and not much else, no water park, no waterslide of consequence. Announcements are repeated in multiple languages and your child may be a minority English speaker in the kids' club — enriching for some families, hard work for others. And her itineraries are getting longer rather than shorter, with 8- and 9-night South American sailings on the horizon.
Which ages benefit most. Roughly six to twelve, on a Mediterranean summer rather than a long repositioning. Teenagers will run out of ship faster here than on any MSC hull built after 2017.
What couples actually find
The good week runs through the rooms her past left behind. Sea Pavilion on the first sea day, the Tea House mid-afternoon, Butcher's Cut once, and a lot of deck. On a ship carrying more space per guest than almost anything its age, and running ports that most mainstream lines do not, a couple gets a considerably more distinctive week than the fare implies.
What to weigh honestly. Two things. Her editor names “cigarette smoking is more prevalent on MSC than other lines” as a con for this ship specifically — worth asking about cabin placement. And the corroborated member criticism of her food is blunt: one review describes cafeteria-level food — careless, bland and sometimes just plain bad. Members also report whirlpools that were never hot and missing cabin amenities. Those are operational rather than cosmetic, and they recur.
The quiet places. The Tea House at almost any hour; whichever of Bora Bora and Pago Pago the crowd is not in; the thermal suite before nine; and the Yacht Club sun deck if you bought your way behind the gate, which on this hull costs a fraction of what it costs on a flagship.
Cabins: what May 2024 actually changed
Eighty-two per cent of her cabins face outside and 1,256 have balconies — a high proportion for a hull of this age.
Her most recent drydock ran 10 to 29 May 2024 at Palumbo Malta, and unlike her twin's, it touched the cabins. The scope covered hull work, cabin and public-area refurbishment, class renewal, a shore-power retrofit, and LED lighting and HVAC efficiency upgrades. That places her third-most-recently renovated of MSC's eight older ships, behind only the two Musica-class hulls that received full Yacht Club conversions — and a full year ahead of her own twin, whose last touch was October 2023 and delivered little beyond shore power.
The fare tier decides more than the deck number. On Bella, MSC assigns your stateroom within four days of departure, dining is fixed with no change permitted, and room-service delivery carries a charge. Fantastica buys cabin choice, free delivery and one free booking change. Aurea adds free-time dining in a dedicated restaurant, adults-only thermal access, priority boarding and a discounted drinks package. On an 8- or 9-night South American sailing the Bella assignment lottery is a longer gamble than it looks, because you live with the result for over a week.
Ask about smoking areas before you accept a balcony. Her editor lists smoking prevalence as a stated con for this ship. It is the one cabin-placement question we would put ahead of deck number on this hull specifically.
Avoid directly beneath the buffet decks and directly above the theatre. Book amidships for anyone commuting repeatedly between the pool decks and the low dining rooms.
Her sister ships
Three sisters from the same French yard — one identical, two modified, and none with her passport.
MSC Fantasia
Her near-identical twin, and the ship where the Yacht Club was invented — roomier on paper, thinner on features, and the least recently refitted of the eight.
2012 · Mediterranean and BrazilMSC Divina
The modified second pair, named for Sophia Loren herself, and the first MSC ship ever to serve North America.
2013 · HamburgMSC Preziosa
The hull Libya ordered and never took — now MSC's year-round Northern Europe ship, and the one carrying VERTIGO.
The honest read
The most important number on this page is the gap between her two ratings. Cruise Critic's editor gives MSC Splendida 4.5, which is among the highest editor scores MSC holds anywhere in its fleet. Her members give her 3.3 from about 391 reviews. A 1.2-point spread is the widest in this generation of MSC ships, and it is not statistical noise. The professional review is scoring the hardware. The members are scoring the delivery. On a hull that genuinely is beautiful, genuinely does carry 42.1 gross tons per guest, and genuinely does have the best specialty slate in her class, that tells you exactly where the risk sits.
The member criticism is specific and we will print it rather than paraphrase it. On food, one review describes cafeteria-level food — careless, bland and sometimes just plain bad, which is the sharpest version of the repetition complaint that recurs across all eight older MSC ships. On maintenance, members report whirlpools that were never hot and missing cabin amenities — operational failures rather than cosmetic ones, and the kind that recur rather than resolve. Her editor's own listed con is different again and worth knowing before you book a balcony: “Cigarette smoking is more prevalent on MSC than other lines.”
Set against that is a genuinely unusual ship. She and her twin are the roomiest hulls in MSC's older fleet at 42.1 gross tons per guest, with 2.39 guests per crew member at double occupancy — better than most of what MSC has built since. Her tonnage is the only figure in this class that every source agrees on. Eighty-two per cent of her cabins face outside. And she carries a Jereme Leung Chinese restaurant and a dim sum house on a ship selling Mediterranean and Brazilian itineraries, because MSC left the Shanghai fit-out in place when the deployment ended. There is nothing else like that in the mainstream market.
She is also better cared for than her reputation suggests. Her May 2024 drydock covered cabins and public areas, class renewal, shore power, and LED and HVAC efficiency work — a fuller scope than her twin received seven months earlier, and it places her third in renovation recency across the eight older ships. That matters because the paradox running through this whole class is that the Fantasia-class ships, the newer and grander half of MSC's older fleet, are now the less recently renovated half. Splendida is the exception within the exception.
And her forward book says something. MSC is giving her its first-ever Rio de Janeiro homeport season for winter 2026-27, alongside Buenos Aires, on 8- and 9-night itineraries, replacing a much smaller ship in that role. Companies do not put 137,936 tonnes into a market they are leaving. Nor do they fit shore power to hulls they intend to dispose of. There is no announced sale, transfer, retirement or charter for any of MSC's eight older ships, and the affirmative signals all run the same direction.
Who receives the most value from MSC Splendida? A traveller who wants an unusual itinerary on a genuinely roomy ship and will actually use the specialty rooms rather than hoping the included dining carries the week. For them she is one of the most interesting bookings in the mainstream market and priced nothing like it. For anyone sensitive to cigarette smoke, or who needs the ship to be identical to the brochure every single evening, her editor's 4.5 and her members' 3.3 are both telling the truth and you should book accordingly.
MSC Splendida at a glance
The numbers, stated once, with the basis named.
| Entered service | Delivered 4 July 2009; ordered as MSC Serenata, renamed May 2007 |
| Shipyard | Saint-Nazaire, France — STX France, trading as Chantiers de l'Atlantique since 2018. Interiors by De Jorio Design |
| Godmother | Sophia Loren, christened 12 July 2009 in Barcelona — eight days after delivery |
| Gross tonnage | 137,936 GT, agreed by MSC, Wikipedia and the vessel registry with no conflict |
| Length | 333.30 m |
| Decks | 18 total / 14 guest. There is no deck 17 |
| Guests | 3,274 double occupancy; 4,363 maximum |
| Crew | ~1,370 |
| Guests per crew | 2.39:1 at double occupancy; 3.18:1 at maximum |
| Space ratio | 42.1 gross tons per guest at double occupancy; 31.6 at maximum — joint-highest of MSC's eight older ships |
| Cabins | 82% outside; 1,256 with balconies |
| Yacht Club | 71 suites, decks 15–16 forward. Restaurant L'Olivo; Top Sail Lounge 141 seats; The One Pool |
| Dining | MDRs La Reggia and Villa Verde; buffets Bora Bora and Pago Pago; specialty Butcher's Cut and Sea Pavilion by Jereme Leung; a Tea House & Dim Sum venue; Yacht Club L'Olivo |
| Venue count | MSC advertises “13 restaurants/buffets”. Strict count: 7–8 |
| Attractions | Mini-bowling per Cruise Critic's own classification. No water park, no waterslide of consequence |
| Refit history | November 2017 — Jereme Leung Chinese restaurant, Baidu AI translation, China-tailored MSC for Me. 10–29 May 2024, Palumbo Malta — hull, cabins, public areas, class renewal, shore power, LED and HVAC |
| Deployment | Med 2009–17 · Dubai 2017–18 · Shanghai 2018–20 · Santos · Red Sea · Durban 2023–24 · Santos and Med. Winter 2026-27: first-ever Rio de Janeiro homeport season. Never US-homeported |
| Cruise Critic | Editor 4.5; members 3.3 from ~391 reviews — a 1.2-point gap, the widest in this generation. Editor-listed con: cigarette smoking more prevalent than on other lines |
Ask Seabound about Splendida
Tell us about your trip.
Homeport, group size, kids' ages, budget and length — and we'll tell you honestly whether Splendida is your ship or another MSC ship fits better.
Instant answers from our guides · always verified against current MSC information before you book.
Quick answers
Does MSC Splendida still have the Chinese restaurant from her Shanghai years?
Yes. Her November 2017 refit fitted a Chinese restaurant designed by chef Jereme Leung — Sea Pavilion — along with Baidu-powered AI translation and a China-tailored version of the MSC for Me app, all built for the Shanghai deployment she ran from 2018 to 2020. MSC did not remove the fit-out when she left Asia. Sea Pavilion is still on her deck plan, and so is a Tea House and Dim Sum venue. It is the most distinctive specialty slate on any of MSC's older ships, and it is on a hull now selling Mediterranean and South American itineraries.
Where does MSC Splendida sail?
She is the most-travelled ship in her class: Mediterranean from 2009 to 2017, Dubai in 2017-18, Shanghai from 2018 to 2020, then Santos, the Red Sea, Durban in 2023-24, and Santos and the Mediterranean again. For winter 2026-27 she takes MSC's first-ever season homeporting Rio de Janeiro, together with Buenos Aires, on 8- and 9-night Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay itineraries, replacing MSC Lirica in that role. She has never been homeported in the United States. Deployments change, so verify your specific sailing.
Has MSC Splendida been refurbished?
Twice substantively. November 2017 fitted the Jereme Leung Chinese restaurant, Baidu AI translation and a China-tailored MSC for Me for the Shanghai deployment. Then from 10 to 29 May 2024 at Palumbo Malta she had hull work, cabin and public-area refurbishment, class renewal, a shore-power retrofit, and LED lighting and HVAC efficiency upgrades. That places her third-most-recently renovated of MSC's eight older ships, and a full year ahead of her own twin MSC Fantasia.
What is the difference between MSC Splendida and MSC Fantasia?
They are near-identical hulls — same 137,936 gross tons, same 333.30 metres, same 3,274 guests at double occupancy, same 42.1 gross tons per guest, same 71-suite Yacht Club architecture. The differences are in fit-out and career. Splendida carries Sea Pavilion by Jereme Leung, a Tea House and Dim Sum venue and mini-bowling, none of which Fantasia has; Splendida's Yacht Club restaurant is L'Olivo against Fantasia's L'Étoile. Splendida was refitted in May 2024 against Fantasia's October 2023, and Splendida has worked four continents where Fantasia has stayed in Europe.
Is MSC Splendida good for families?
Reasonably, with a caveat. She carries the joint-highest space ratio of MSC's eight older ships and has two buffets rather than one, which matters more to a family than any single feature. But the attraction set is thin — mini-bowling and little else, with no water park and no waterslide of consequence — and her itineraries are running longer rather than shorter. The European service charge does discount children, where the North American structure charges the full adult rate from age two.
Why do MSC Splendida's ratings disagree with each other?
Because they are measuring different things. Cruise Critic's editor gives her 4.5, among the highest editor scores MSC holds anywhere; her members give her 3.3 from about 391 reviews. That 1.2-point gap is the widest in this generation of MSC ships. The professional review scores the hardware, which is excellent, and the members score the delivery, which varies. Specific recurring member complaints are food repetition, whirlpools that were never hot and missing cabin amenities, while the editor's own listed con is that cigarette smoking is more prevalent on MSC than on other lines.